[BTCC] BTCC 2018 - Brands Hatch GP - Rounds 28, 29, 30

[thlbtcc]

Fair play Cook, car was hobbled.

[Racer65]

Originally Posted by Evantra

Jordan did OK. Turks I think was probably enjoying it as much as possible rather than pushing as hard as he could, deservingly so'l!

Depends where the car is. Same issue as some other cars. Put it at the front with cars that can corner at similar speeds and it can maintain the position. Stick it in traffic with cars that are slower in the corners and it's hard to make ground.

[Jon411]

I almost posted eatlier before race 3, but I was in one of the suites on the start/ finish straight and from after the end of race 2 to the point the car went out on track for race 3 the WSR engineers spent most the time looking in the engine bay of Colin's car, the bonnet was closed and fastened and then opened again several times, even after the car had been pushed out into the pitline before the green flag was given to go out onto the grid.

Ricky's car had the bonnet closed most the time so I was wondering if Colin had a gremlin on the system as even the backmarkers were going past him during the race, I think the only person he stayed ahead of was Plato.

[tux]

Originally Posted by Jon411

I almost posted eatlier before race 3, but I was in one of the suites on the start/ finish straight and from after the end of race 2 to the point the car went out on track for race 3 the WSR engineers spent most the time looking in the engine bay of Colin's car, the bonnet was closed and fastened and then opened again several times, even after the car had been pushed out into the pitline before the green flag was given to go out onto the grid.

Ricky's car had the bonnet closed most the time so I was wondering if Colin had a gremlin on the system as even the backmarkers were going past him during the race, I think the only person he stayed ahead of was Plato.

On ITV they interviewed Colins wife before the race and she said there was a strange noise on the way to the grid and it was found that a tool was left in the engine bay.

[Alfisti]

Pleased to see Colin, Dick and the boys get the win. Thoroughly deserved. Rob Collards early season struggle showed just how much TOCA hobbled the car.

Hoping that Colin will be confirmed as continuing at WSR so he can have the opportunity to defend his title; sadly he was denied this the past two occasions.

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Pleased to see Colin, Dick and the boys get the win. Thoroughly deserved. Rob Collards early season struggle showed just how much TOCA hobbled the car.

Hoping that Colin will be confirmed as continuing at WSR so he can have the opportunity to defend his title; sadly he was denied this the past two occasions.

If I were Dick Bennetts I would be going back to Alan Gow and requesting a review of the measures applied to the BMW.

I would argue that the 30kg weight penalty can stay (as it would for Subaru) but give them back some low speed boost (so back it down to say 80kph) before the boost cut and allow them free placement of the ballast box. Having a boost cut up until 120kph is practically half of the cars overall speed.

[Matt K]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Hoping that Colin will be confirmed as continuing at WSR so he can have the opportunity to defend his title; sadly he was denied this the past two occasions.

No, hew was denied the opportunity only once. In 2015 he was able to defend his title but not as a WSR driver.

[S griffin]

Well done Colin, deserved that title. Yes, he only took one win, but in a series with so many different winners, it’s important to be consistent. It’s almost like Rosberg in 82. Hope this time he gets to defend his title with WSR.

Cammish has finally got to grips fully with tin tops, hope he’s back next season. Tingram really gave it his all in R2, wonder if AJ deliberately stayed behind Neal to keep Tingram back. I would love to see Speedworks and Tingram awarded for their efforts with Toyota works backing

R3 was a great ‘dead rubber’ race. Seeing Cook and Sutton battling and keeping it clean was great entertainment, especially that lap when they swapped the lead a few times. Unlucky for Cook he didn’t have the power to hold off Sutton, but I guess Sutton knew he had the power to do it

Goff looked good, shame his car let him down. Also Cole had a not too bad weekend in the Ford.

Great support race action too, hard to think the season is over now. It certainly doesn’t feel long enough, but anyway roll on 2019

[btccbloke]

One thing race 3 confirmed for me, is those subarus are certainly not lacking straight line speed.. Another excuse needed please Mr Plato

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by S griffin

...wonder if AJ deliberately stayed behind Neal to keep Tingram back.

Nope. He said he only knew about the title implications 2 laps from the end and he was focused on the cars ahead rather than behind.

Originally Posted by S griffin

R3 was a great ‘dead rubber’ race. Seeing Cook and Sutton battling and keeping it clean was great entertainment, especially that lap when they swapped the lead a few times. Unlucky for Cook he didn’t have the power to hold off Sutton, but I guess Sutton knew he had the power to do it

It was a great scrap but I was surprised Sutton was able to outdrag the TOCA engined Astra in the "down on power" Subaru. They've been whinging about its lack of straight line speed all year yet he just powered past the Astra around the outside.

[S griffin]

Well we know how much Plato and Subaru like to play politics

[auroan]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Nope. He said he only knew about the title implications 2 laps from the end and he was focused on the cars ahead rather than behind.



It was a great scrap but I was surprised Sutton was able to outdrag the TOCA engined Astra in the "down on power" Subaru. They've been whinging about its lack of straight line speed all year yet he just powered past the Astra around the outside.

Nothing to do with power. That corner favors a RWD car. It can get the power down earlier than a FWD as the FWD just spins a bit with the lock on.

I've managed to pull away in my 140bhp e30 when racing against a 180bhp fiesta ST from that corner just based on application of power.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by auroan

Nothing to do with power. That corner favors a RWD car. It can get the power down earlier than a FWD as the FWD just spins a bit with the lock on.

I've managed to pull away in my 140bhp e30 when racing against a 180bhp fiesta ST from that corner just based on application of power.

I expected the Subaru to get a better initial run out of the corner but was surprised that it kept on coming - I'd have expected the Astra to have negated that before the line with the advantage the TOCA engine supposedly has over the Subaru. Makes you wonder what Plato was doing all weekend.

[Racer65]

If you look at the finish line speed trap figures for race 3 Cook is 4th slowest on 129.3 and Sutton is 7th slowest on 129.5

Top car is Tordoff at 132.3

Interesting thing in race 2 was that Sutton was 10th fastest (130.8) and Cook was 5th on 131.5 which I guess goes to show what happens if you get a tow behind a car that is faster than you compared to one that is just about the same speed.

Top car in race 2 was Chilton at 131.8

[touring fan01]

Originally Posted by Racer65

If you look at the finish line speed trap figures for race 3 Cook is 4th slowest on 129.3 and Sutton is 7th slowest on 129.5

Top car is Tordoff at 132.3

Interesting thing in race 2 was that Sutton was 10th fastest (130.8) and Cook was 5th on 131.5 which I guess goes to show what happens if you get a tow behind a car that is faster than you compared to one that is just about the same speed.

Top car in race 2 was Chilton at 131.8

interesting. plus also the fact that sutton won twice as many races as any other driver this year shows that its the lap times and race pace that count, not top speed. (and of course consistancy to win the championship)

[S griffin]

And how much you drag out of the car too

[BillWiskins]

Originally Posted by btccbloke

One thing race 3 confirmed for me, is those subarus are certainly not lacking straight line speed..

Seeing this all over the place today, as if we haven't just watched a full season of the Levorg being visibly slower in a straight line.

[btccbloke]

Originally Posted by BillWiskins

Seeing this all over the place today, as if we haven't just watched a full season of the Levorg being visibly slower in a straight line.

Nope I never really saw that. Sutton was second in forever forward so the car could clearly overtake.
Just shows JP as a has been desperately needing excuses when you see Sutton keeping up and attacking on the long straights yesterday

[Racer65]

Originally Posted by btccbloke

Nope I never really saw that. Sutton was second in forever forward so the car could clearly overtake.
Just shows JP as a has been desperately needing excuses when you see Sutton keeping up and attacking on the long straights yesterday

Doesn't mean it's overtaking on the straights though does it?

Look at the speed trap figures from just about any track this year and the Subaru is in the bottom third every time.

The car is definitely one of the slowest in a straight line but Ash is able to get more out of it in the corners than JP. Ash himself has said many times how slow it is.

[medius]

Originally Posted by btccbloke

Nope I never really saw that. Sutton was second in forever forward so the car could clearly overtake.
Just shows JP as a has been desperately needing excuses when you see Sutton keeping up and attacking on the long straights yesterday

I'm not sure it's an excuse but JP has said many times he's raced for years and it's much more difficult for any racer with the same sort of experience to be interested and motivated knowing you're going to be getting in behind the wheel to scrap your heart out for middling 20s position (at best). Whatever the reasons for being in that situation is unclear. But it's hard to point the finger at it all being excuses when I think most drivers would react the same after going from fighting for wins to an expensive drive around every Sunday.

The car had been dire and JP just didn't want to be in the situation being asked by all the race day fans and journos what was up with it. I definitely feel Ash brought wayyy more out of the car than it should have given he's younger and more invigorised being defending champ, that combined with JP not being as "on it" showed two very different results from the car.

[Lancsbreaker]

Fantastic 3rd race....of course as an Alfa fan it was great to see Roberto Austini at the sharp end, but good close clean racing pretty much throughout the field

[Greem]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

Fantastic 3rd race....of course as an Alfa fan it was great to see Roberto Austini at the sharp end, but good close clean racing pretty much throughout the field

Unless you were the unlucky Mr Jelley, who seems to have had extra magnets on his BMW this year.

I'd been to a conference followed by a wedding, so I was pretty tired by the end of Sunday but the whole of race 3 had me captivated. The last 5 or 6 laps were some of the best racing I've seen in several years (and I've watched a fair amount!).

Ash was lucky he didn't get pushed outside his ideal line for that last corner - Josh could easily have given him a helping hand there but the previous 5 laps were testament to both of their experience, ability and talent. Great race to end the season on IMO

[S griffin]

Jelley's season has really been a waste, it seems he could not buy good luck.

[BobJones]

Compare and contrast, when Cook was defending against Sutton we got an amazing race, when Cook was defending against Shedden, we got a broken car.

[Alfisti]

Cookie and Sutton were both very clean. Squeaky clean. I wish some of the others took that onboard and drove the same.